Lost in Worcester? Long-dormant wayfinding project finally funded

Tuesday

Jul 8, 2014 at 6:00 AMJul 8, 2014 at 8:05 AM

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — For seven years, a prototype marker has stood solitary vigil in Federal Square, proclaiming the spot opposite The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts to be part of a "Downtown District" not otherwise identified or delineated.

The roughly 15-foot-tall marker, with a whimsical tile mosaic at its base depicting downtown buildings and streetscapes, was intended to be part of an integrated system of signs and markers guiding visitors to Worcester attractions while conveying a sense of the city's history, culture and character.

But the Worcester Wayfinding Initiative never got much beyond the prototype installed in Federal Square in 2007 because the city and its private sector partners, such as colleges and museums, couldn't come up with the money to actually implement the plan.

That changed Monday afternoon with the announcement of a $2 million grant from the state Department of Transportation, to which City Hall will kick in $1 million from its own capital budget.

City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. said the wayfinding project is designed to show off the city's cultural assets and make it easy for visitors to find them.

"Economic development isn't always about splashy new hotels and multimillion-dollar developments. Often, it's about creating an environment that leads to those," Mr. Augustus said.

At the most basic level, wayfinding projects seek to replace a hodgepodge of confusing old signs with a well thought-out, visually consistent system of markers designed to tell visitors where they are, point them toward notable attractions, reassure them that they're still going the right way along the route to a particular attraction and then let them know when they've arrived.

"Cities like Worcester are well aware that if unfamiliar visitors have trouble finding their way around, especially if they've felt disoriented in the past or heard stories about others being lost, they simply won't want to return," said Janet R. Carpman, a partner in Carpman Grant Associates, a wayfinding consulting firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Wayfinding initiatives have grown increasingly popular in cities across the country, she said, and sometimes are as much about creating a slick new municipal brand identity as they are about facilitating navigation.

"Some cities start with the desire to improve wayfinding and see a related opportunity to improve branding and awareness of various districts and featured destinations," said Ms. Carpman, whose firm is not involved in the Worcester initiative.

MassDOT Chief Engineer Patricia A. Leavenworth said the wayfinding initiative will bring a consistent sign design to Worcester, "tell the city's unique story," and encourage residents and visitors to walk or take public transportation.

The Worcester plan includes 30-foot-tall rectangular gateway markers to be erected along major routes into the city and smaller markers denoting eight city districts: Canal, Downtown, Elm Park, Main South, Salisbury, Shrewsbury Street, South Worcester and Washington Square.

Each district has its own icon for use on the various wayfinding elements within or leading to that district.

The icon denoting the Washington Square District, for example, is a stylized representation of Union Station's fašade and towers.

As with the tile mosaic on the prototype marker in Federal Square, each of the two dozen gateway and district markers will incorporate public art projects, according to organizers.

Other wayfinding elements will point the way to districts and attractions and mark major routes between them.

The plan also calls for the removal of current sign clutter and the installation of interpretive panels explaining to pedestrians the historical or cultural significance of various sites.

An upside to the long delay in implementing the wayfinding system designed for Worcester is that the original plan now has been tweaked to take advantage of recent advances in technology, such as mobile applications that run on smartphones and interactive informational kiosks to help guide visitors to nearby attractions and events in the city.

"It's like technology has caught up with us as we were waiting for the money to come along," said Ellen S. Dunlap, president of one the city's most venerable attractions, the American Antiquarian Society.

Contact reporter Thomas Caywood at tcaywood@telegram.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasCaywood